We Will Remember Them
by Jtoasn
Summary: He would remember the Kings and Queens as the rest of the Narnians would, young and happy and old and wise at the same time. I own nothing. Ode to the Anzacs.


We Will Remember Them

The stories told us that they had entered Narnia as children.

And as children they defeated the White Witch and the devastating winter that she reigned over all of Narnia. With Aslan they came to be great Kings and Queens and the time that they ruled were called the Golden Years.

They reigned and became such legends, each to their name, and in the name of Aslan who gave them their names.

But then one day, they disappeared, hunting for the white stag that would bring them a wish if they caught it. At the time, the citizens wondered what they would wish for if they had caught it, they had everything that they could ever want in Narnia.

Perhaps they wished for the Golden Age to last forever.

But nothing last forever.

It was on that very day, the Kings and Queens disappeared from the world, and they returned to theirs.

But they came back, after a while.

And when they did, so much time had passed that they had only remained remembered as legends of a story that was so far in the past, it couldn't have been real.

But the great Caspian the tenth believed in the legends, and he blew the horn and they all had waited in hope for the coming of their saviours.

They had not expected children.

And of course, by that time the air of Narnia had already begun to take effect on them and they were much closer to the Kings and Queens than they were back in London, they were still children in the eyes of the Narnians. But then the legends were retold of when they had first come into Narnia as children, and they decided that time does not travel the same in either worlds.

And once again, there was triumph over evil and Narnia was ruled by King Caspian the Tenth.

The next time they entered Narnia; there was a new son of Adam with them. He was a beast, if the accounts are to be trusted, but Narnia changed him in more ways than one, and he became a legend himself.

But not like the Kings and Queens.

It was King Caspian who understood, more so than the rest of the crew, that they would not see the Kings and Queens of old again.

It broke his heart, for he would dearly love to see his old friends again, but he knew – as Aslan had told him, that each of them had their moments, like a sun that has risen over the sky and has set, but now it was Caspian's sun that was rising.

It was Caspian's moment.

And many years passed where he had hoped to see his friends again, truly believing that one day they would return.

But his hair turned grey, and his face was lined and his body grew stiff and soon he was an old man.

He didn't want to see them then.

If the legends and stories would be trusted, they would return without a day of the past years on their faces. He wouldn't like to see them the way he was, he wanted them to always remember the young Caspian as he would remember them.

He was glad that they didn't see him, in his final moments.

The King had not seen Eustace, had not seen the shock on his face, and perhaps it was better that the two visitors had muddled up their first task. For it would have broken an old king's heart, to see them like that, and for them to see him.

No, it had been better this way.

He would remember the Kings and Queens as the rest of the Narnians would, young and happy and old and wise at the same time. And they would remember Caspian, as the one who fought alongside them in the great battles against the Telmarines.

But when he closed his eyes, he opened them to find that he was in the days of his youth.

Eustace was there, and just like Caspian suspected, not a day of age on his face. It was like waking up the day after they had found the end of the world, but instead of him gone, they were still there, and Aslan look as if he had been waiting for him to wake up all this time.

And for five minutes he entered the world of the Kings and Queens, and he felt like everything else had been a dream and that this was his life – his real life. And he did not feel as if those minutes were too short, for he knew that everyone had their moments – and his sun was slowly setting in the sky.

He knew one day that sun would rise again, and he would wait for them, as all of Narnia would.

The Kings and Queens of old.

But never old.

Never forgotten.

_**They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;**_

_**Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.**_

_**At the going down of the sun and in the morning**_

_**We will remember them.**_


End file.
